This invention relates to transmissions for vehicle, particularly passenger cars, having several gear pairs that can be switched as desired, and including a simple planet gear to provide at least one additional transmission stage.
Transmissions having a planet gear which is engaged after the usual gear engagements are known. In such arrangements, the planet gear, which is generally positioned separately in a side train behind the usual gearing, provides at least one additional gear with an appropriately adjusted transmission stage which can be engaged hydraulically.
German Auslegeschrift No. 1,625,010 discloses such gear arrangements including an input component, an output component and a planet gear which can be linked with the housing in a first shift position by a multi-disk brake and linked with another planet gear component in a second shift position by a multiple-disc clutch. In this arrangement, however, special operating pistons with associated ring cylinders are needed for each engagement unit. This adds to the size of the unit and increases its construction costs.